Gripping device or carrier.



No. 629,997. Patented Aug. I, I899.

J. HORMBY. GRIPPING DEVICE 0B CARRIER.

(Application filed Dec. 10. 1898.)

2 Shsets-Sheet {No Model.)

WITNESSES: e9. A9. 7%mfi ATTORNEY Patented Aug. I, I899. J. HORMBY.

GRIPPING DEVICE 0R CARRIER.

(Application filed Dec. 10. 1898.)

(No Model.) 2 sheets -sheet 2.

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)7, E :m J a J" )Illlll R WITNESSES: INVENTOR m? Q9. A9. 7W+f- BY w 5 M UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HORMBY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

GRIPPING DEVICE OR CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,997, dated August 1, 1899.

Application filed December 10, 1898. Serial No. 698,860. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that 1, JOHN HORMBY, of New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gripping Devices or Carriers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to grip devices or carriers; and its novelty consists in the construction and adaptation of the parts whereby material slabs of varying thickness are securely held while being operated upon by different tools.

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 611,811, issued to me October 4, 1898, for a button-making machine I have described a grip-carrier consisting,essentially,of two jaws suitably apertured to give access to the operating-tools, one of the jaws being fixed and the other movable, together with means for moving and locking the movable jaw against the material slab to be operated upon and means for a utomatically opening the said jaws to release the slab after such operations have been finished. The mechanism which was the subject-matter of that application has been employed in practical operation in the manufacture of buttons from slabs of vegetable ivory. These slabs, cut from the ivorynut and designed to be of approximately uniform thickness, as a matter of fact vary in thickness toward their edges owing to the ovoid character of the external surface of the nut. \Vhen, therefore, a slab having two parallel faces, but which otherwise resembles the frustum of a cone in shape, was placed within the jaws of the grip-carrier described in my said patent the lack of adjustability of the movable jaw permitted it to slip from the carrier unless great care was taken in its adjustment.

The purpose of my present invention is to overcome the dilficulty thus encountered; and. it consists,in brief,in making the movable jaw of separate members independently hinged and interposing between the screw and pinion employed for moving said members toward the fixed jaw a universal joint or bearing whereby the separate members are moved simultaneously varying distances by one movement of the opening and closing devices.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top elevation of my improved grip-carrier, and Fig. 2 is a bottom elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof, showing concealed parts in dotted outline. Fig. 4 is a front elevation showing a material slab of varying thickness between the jaws. Fig. 5 is a vertical central section upon the plane of the line 5 5 in Figs. 1 and 3. Figs. 6 and 8 are top and bottom plan views, respectively, of the teetering ring. Fig. 7 is a top plan View of the saddle, and Fig. 9 is a bottom plan view thereof.

In the drawings, 0 represents a portion of the head or carrier upon which the grip-carrier is mounted and by which it is moved. This may be mounted to rotate, as in the form of button-making machine described in Letters Patent No. 611,811, above referred to, or to reciprocate or to move in any desired Way, whereby the apertures in the grip-carrier may be brought opposite the operating-tools. It is not necessary to show the remainder of the carrier 0 or the mechanism by which it is actuated in order to understand my present invention.

F is the fixed jaw, which is secured to the carrier c in any suitable manner-Tor instance, by screwsfff-and it is provided with an an nularprojecting piecef, furnished with teeth f on its innermost periphery and having a conical openingf to permit of access of the operating-tools.

The movable jaw is made of two separate pieces or members m and m. They are alike in size andproportions, but placed symmetrically opposite to each other. At the rear each member is provided with a transverse threaded aperture adapted to receive and engage with a right and left handed screw m mounted in two guide-plates 171/ secured to the carrier by a nut and boltm and turned by the rotation of a perforated annulus m secured to the screw m and operated by a tool thrust into the perforations in a manner well known in the art. At the front each member is provided with a projecting piece it, provided with teeth 11., and is hollowed out and curved to form a portion of an aperture corresponding in form to the aperturef in the fixed jaw. Each member is held normally away from the fixed jaw by a spring n secured to the under side thereof and resting against the carrier 0.

The means provided for opening and closingthejawsandadjustingthem against pieces of material of varying thickness is as follows: A pinion p is mounted on a screw 19, which engages with the threads cut in an aperture extending through the carrier 0 and into the fixed jaw. It is seldom necessary to continue this aperture into the fixedjaw, but as it may be convenient at times I have so shown it. Resting upon the two members m and m is a transverse saddle 5, having a central aperture slightly greater in diameterthan that of the screw 19 to permit of its passage, and provided with two flanges 3, each one of which is provided on its under side with a'trans- Verse slot 8 deeper at the edges than at the middle and adapted to rest upon the corresponding upper edge of the member beneath it, which is beveled and sharpened for that purpose at m The saddle is made tapering at .9 toward its bottom and the members heneath it are recessed at m to allow it freedom to laterally oscillate. Above the saddle s and restingin an annular recess s cut therein is a teetering ring 0", provided externally on one side with a pair of lugs r 'r and on the opposite side with a similar pair of lugs r 0*, placed diametrically at right angles to the first pair. The internal diameter of this is also slightly greater than the external diam eter of the screw 19 to permit of its easy passage through the ring.

The operation of my device is as follows: Supposing a slab of material (marked a in Fig. 4) to be placed with one of its flat surfaces against the teeth f of the fixed jaw, the pinion p is then rotated by a segmental screw mounted upon the machine or in any other suitable manner. This causes the pinion to advance downward toward the fixed jaw, which first presses upon the teetering ring r and then upon the saddle s, which in turn bears upon the members m and m of the movable jaw.

In the illustration chosen the member m first comes in contact with the upper flat surface of the piece of material a opposite that surface lying against the teeth of the fixed jaw; but it will be observed that the sloping side rt of this same slab permits the member an of the movable jaw to advance farther downward, the oscillation of the saddle .9 upon the edges on of the members m and m and the further oscillation of the teetering ring within the saddle transmitting the pressure of the pinion upon that member m of the movable jaw which is permitted to advance until it grasps the sloping portion of the material slab a, farther toward the fixed jaw than that portion of the material slab grasped by the member m.

The advantage of the construction is obvious. It permits of the use of a piece of material the center field of which is large enough to use in making a button, although its edges may be so thin that it could not be adequately grasped by a fixed and movable jaw not permitting such vibration of motion.

What I claim as new is 1. In a grip-carrier the combination with a fixed jaw, of amovablejaw consisting of aplurality of separately-movable members, and means for moving the said members simultaneously but independently toward said fixed jaw, consisting of a pinion mounted upon a screw and a uni versally-jointed bearing intermediate the pinion and the members of the movable jaw.

2. In agrip-carrier the combination with a fixed jaw, of a movable jaw consisting of separate members, means for opening and closing the jaws consisting of a pinion mounted upon a screw and two bearing-pieces interposed between the pinion and the movable jaws adapted freely to oscillate with relation to the jaws, the pinion and each other.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN HORMBY.

Witnesses:

HERMAN MEYER, CHESTER I-I. HIGGINS. 

